


Hot Light

by footinsink



Category: Zootopia (2016)
Genre: F/M, Slice of Life, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-07
Updated: 2017-04-07
Packaged: 2018-10-15 21:12:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10557790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/footinsink/pseuds/footinsink
Summary: It was his most useless Carrot App Store download yet, but Nick couldn't bring himself to uninstall it.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I AM SO SORRY you guise! Glossary and explanation forthcoming!

Twilight had fallen in Sahara Square when Nick's iPhone signaled the hot light was on at the Purrispy Preme in the lobby of the Palm Hotel.

It was his most useless Carrot App Store download yet, but Nick couldn't bring himself to uninstall it. He swiveled his phone to show Judy as she typed out the last few sentences of their end-of-shift report.

Judy glanced over, the glowing hot light icon reflected in her widening eyes.

They decided they were okay with being that cliché.

"I've been craving shit all day," Judy moaned. "Let's do it."

Nick thinks maybe it's not such a useless app after all.

They park and weave through the souq, burgeoning with bargain hunters and hawkers alike as the oppressive heat of the day ameliorated. The metallic fronds of the hotel glittered in the distance.

Judy made them stop on the way there at a beauty supply stall selling Hashmi kajal, the kind Judy swore by because it didn't run into her fur. 

Nick didn't object. The shop owner cooed over Judy, deftly smudging kohl around her eyes. It did funny things to his stomach when she looked up at him for approval.

"Not bad, Hopps," Nick said. He perked his ears up. "My turn?" 

"No," Judy said, a beat longer than necessary as she handed cash to the shop owner.

Nick and Judy reached the hotel and gazed up in the blue-black dark. Cicadas clamoured like car alarms. It was a stark contrast to the unrefined sincerity of the souq, all gleaming metal and Swarovski crystals, trademarked labels and a White Horse Black Market. 

The Purrispy Preme was in the lobby. Nick and Judy watched, transfixed through the plexiglass, as the round, golden dough flipped into a river of corporate-approved hot oil.

That's when Judy stiffened and doubled over the railing.

Nick's tail lashed, once. "Judy?"

"Be right back," she said, smile a little too wide, voice a little too high as she made a mad dash for the restroom.

His ears flicked back ever so slightly as he watched her scurry off.

Judy returned too soon, stony-faced and blushing. She walked past him without a word toward the napkin dispenser, grabbed a stack surreptitiously and turned on her heel.

Nick stared fixedly at the donuts disappearing through a curtain of glaze, his face heating up.

Electric dryers, she explained in the car later, and no quarters for an empty dispenser.

"All right?" he asked, cautiously. He bouyed his query by simultaneously offering her the box of fragrant fried dough.

"I'm bleeding through a stack of Purrispy Preme napkins, Nick," Judy retorted out of the corner of her mouth.

"Gross," Nick said.

"You're grosser," Judy said, automatically. 

She pulled the lid up. The air inside the squad car swelled with the sugary sweet scent.

Then she took a bite. Her eyes rolled heavenward.

"I take it back," Judy said dreamily. "I am outstanding. Cool as a cucumber. I am most definitely all right."

Nick smiled.

"Good," he said. He swiped a bite of her doughnut, ignoring her protests. 

Nick glanced in the rearview mirror. The glittering Palm danced, then receded away into darkness. He turned to home.

**Author's Note:**

> Wrote this on my phone, because it had to exist and it had to exist now.


End file.
